Tableau 13

The tableau for this week is:

| 15 | 16 | 17 | | 18 | 19 | 20 |

The magic square is:

In both arrangements, the central Key is No. 16, THE TOWER. The constant summation of the magic square is 48. It shows the adept's reversal of ordinary states of consciousness (Key 12) as the consequence of the working of the law represented by Key 8 through reason (Key 4). This tableau shows that in order to reason correctly, we must profit by the law that all sub-human states of the life-force are under the control of the subconscious level of human mentality. Faulty reasoning is often the result of our ignorance of this law. Key 16 shows how the law works to overthrow error. Key 12 shows the state of consciousness which is the result of our release from our complexes of mistaken opinion.

The constant summation of the magic square, 48, is also the number of the word KVKB, Kokab (K=20, V=6, K=20, B=2). This word, Kokab is the Hebrew for "Mercury," the planet. It therefore relates to all things Hermetic, and particularly to the power of attentive concentration, represented in Tarot by the MAGICIAN.

Kokab, however, has a more general meaning than its special application to the planet Mercury. It is the generic Hebrew term for star. Thus the Great Magical Agent, which Eliphas Levi calls “Astral Light”, would be AVR HKVKBIM, Aur Ha-Kokabin, “Light of the Stars” in Hebrew. The numeration of these two words is 310 (AVR=207 + HKVKBIM=103). This is the numeration of DVSh, to conquer, of ChBSh, to bind, and of ISh, is, our essence, being. The Astral Light, as Levi tells us, is the blind force that souls must conquer. It binds us so long as we remain in ignorance of its nature and laws. Yet it is the very essence of our being, for it is the substance of heaven and earth, diffused through infinity. When we master and direct its currents, we become the depositaries of the power of God, or the Astral Light, which is the First Matter of alchemists, is the power whose super-conscious manifestation is represented by Key 0, whose self-conscious modes of expression are symbolized by the Magician, and whose subconscious law of operation is pictured in Key 8. Thus it is interesting to note that the number 310 also is the numeration of the word KPIR, Kefeer, a young lion. (See Key 8)

The central idea in this lesson is represented by Key 16. It is the overthrow of error by right knowledge. Your other studies of Key 16 have told you that the basis of all error is the delusion of separateness, pictured by the lonely peak on which the Tower is built. Right knowledge is symbolized in this Key by the lightning-flash, which is also the symbol of the Flaming Sword, for it is a representation of the ten aspects of the Life-Power, the ten Sephiroth of the Qabalists.

Now, in Hebrew “The flaming sword” (Gen. 3.24) is LHT HChRB, Lawhat Ha-Khereb (44 + 215 = 259). “Lawhat,” which is translated “flaming,” means also “magical,” or “the force of enchantment.” By numeration it is connected with the word DM, Dam, Blood. Ha-Khereb, the sword, is equal by numeration to AVRCh, a path, a narrow way, and to ZRCh, to irradiate, to rise (as the sun). Briefly stated, the esoteric doctrine indicated by these Qabalistic correspondences is that the magical force is in the blood, that its direction is the path of liberation, and that as it rises in our consciousness and sends its radiance through our lives, we are set free. It is called the flaming sword in the Genesis story of the FALL, because that story refers to the descent of consciousness from the higher inner planes to the physical. The sword turns “every way” because it is the fire-force in the bloodstream, circulating through our bodies, and therefore turning in every direction. It keeps us out of Eden, for the time being, so that we may gain knowledge of the physical plane. But this same force in our blood is what we must learn to use, in order to overcome the delusions that cause all our difficulties.

The first point to be considered is that, in order to break up our complexes of error, represented by the Tower, we must adopt the mental attitude expressed by Key 12. Conscious and voluntary reversal of our thinking is indispensable. This reversal must be practiced continually. We must reverse the notion that we are personally independent and substitute for it the truth that physically, mentally and spiritually we are related to the cosmic whole and utterly dependent thereon. We must also reverse our notion of what we mean by the pronoun 'I,' so that we see the identity of that 'I' as synonymous with Universal Spirit. This takes lots of practice, for it does not come naturally to us. Yet this practice will result, eventually, in the overthrow of all our subconscious complexes of error. More, it will work directly upon our physical bodies, changing them just a little every day, altering both chemistry and structure, until at length we shall be released from the bondage to three-dimensional appearances, and come actually to know ourselves as four-dimensional beings. Remember, we do not become four-dimensional beings by this process. We only become directly and positively aware that we are, and then we can exercise powers belonging to that state. (Keys 12, 16, 19)

It is the Mars-force, which is directly involved in the transformation of personality, that overthrows error. The magic power that flames in our blood-stream (and flames, too, in every bit of protoplasm in our bodies) flows out of the symbolic North, the place of darkness and terror which represents all things unknown, toward the East and South, representing enlightenment and power. That is to say, it is by the control of forces which in every generation of ordinary humanity have inspired terror, and have been surrounded by taboos, that the real Magician first of all transforms himself, and then, through himself, his world. He works first upon himself that he may build a different organism, capable of registering vibrations in his environment unperceived by those who have not made themselves over. This new organism is also able to direct forces which the ordinary human body cannot manipulate. Thus, the true Magician finds himself in a new world, and rearranges it in ways that seem miraculous to ignorant bystanders. He denies and destroys his old “self,” for that false self really is non-existent. Thus all magic includes self-immolation. But out of the destroyed false “self,” sacrificed upon the flaming pyre of right knowledge, rises, like the fabled Phoenix, the true Self. And this regenerated Self is the solar being whose instruments are the regenerated human consciousness and sub-consciousness. A real Magician is consciously identified with the great Intelligence whose physical brain is the Sun. There’s a real occult statement for you. It says much in few words. May you extract from it is full meaning. (Keys 13, 16, 19)

This same Sun-Spirit is the Holy Guardian Angel pictured in Key 14. Fortunately for us, we do not have to perform the Great Work with no more than the meager equipment afforded by our personal consciousness. That personal consciousness is being worked upon, and at one stage of the work it is utterly broken up, in order that it may be reconstituted. Thus, you will not fail to notice that the lightning-flash in Key 16 comes from outside the Tower, and springs from a solar disk. Adepts who are close to the final realization say with St. Paul, “I die daily.” They are conscious of the dissolution of the persons they used to be, and they rejoice in it. In alchemy this stage of the Great Work is called putrefaction, because it is actually the complete disorganization of all the combinations which entered into the make-up of the old personality. Refusal to enter into this stage of the Great Work is what keeps so many students from making any practical demonstration. Remember, YOU CANNOT STAY AS YOU ARE AND BECOME AN ADEPT. The path is a path of reorganization, and to gain the crown at its end, you must pass far beyond the states and conditions of ordinary human personality. (Keys 14, 16, 18)

What is the particular problem confronting you now? That is your starting-point. Try now to realize that the real nature of that problem is this: YOU ARE MISTAKEN ABOUT SOMETHING. And what you are ignorant of, primarily, is some aspect of your own real power. This is power enough to enable you to meet that problem. There is wisdom enough to correct your error. But nothing will help you so long as you hang onto the error. This problem you are facing is no real exception to the general perfection of the cosmic order. It is really an opportunity, but first of all an opportunity for you to get rid of some pet bit of nonsense that you’re treasuring. That’s what few people like to be told, but the few who have ears to hear become the masters and adepts that we hear so much about. The ordinary human reaction to any problem is either to run away from it, or else to blame somebody else, or the stars, or Fate, or Karma for it. The unusual reaction to a problem is to see in it an opportunity for the unveiling of some hither unrecognized aspect of truth. You have heard of “The Dweller on the Threshold,” perhaps? And if you are well-read on this particular occult topic you know that the “Dweller” is none other than your false self. But on what threshold does he stand? On the threshold of the adytum of “god-nourished silence.” On the threshold of the Gate of Eden. On the threshold of Paradise. And don’t forget that paradise means literally “an enclosure.” The path of liberation leads within. The powers that release us are within. What more need be said? (Keys 15, 16, 17)

Reverse the ordinary attitudes of ordinary men, and you attain to the consciousness of the adept. You do not become anything that you are not now. Strange doctrine this, but true. You do not become, but you do enter into a new region of knowledge. You do not add to yourself anything. You find what you already possess. Franklin and Galvanai and Faraday and Edison did not bring electricity into the universe. Their knowledge of it was the gem of this electrical age. Reverse the ordinary states of human consciousness and you die to the personality that you were while those states dominated your mind. You die, but in dying you learn experimentally that there is no death, and find yourself liberated from the notion that you must have a physical body in order to be alive. For those experiences which abolish the consciousness of death come relatively early in the path of liberation. Reverse the false opinions of “this world” and you will find that the “Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel” is actually SELF-KNOWLEDGE. Can I be plainer? Yet know many will hear and understand? But listen again to the words of the wise, written at the beginning of the Fama Fraternitatis, where they say that book was written “that man might thereby understand his own nobleness and worth, and why he is called Microcosmus, and how far his knowledge extendeth into Nature.” (Keys 12, 13, 14)

Remember, too, that the Life-Power has to be incorporated in an organism before its higher manifestations may be expressed here on the physical plane. This is the hidden mystery of “the Word made flesh.” The natural man has a natural man’s body. An adept has an adept’s body. The body you have now is the seed-form from which you may develop a yet higher organism; but you must participate consciously in the development. The actual building of your new body is accomplished at subconscious levels, as is intimated by the moon above the path in Key 18. The way, or method, whereby this is accomplished is the middle way between the extremes of artificiality and the general averages of the merely natural. This way leads to actual regeneration. This is no mere mystical or metaphysical term – regeneration. It is an actual generative process occurring in the practical occultist’s physical body. As a result of it he develops an organ of the solar consciousness already mentioned in this lesson, and then the personal conscious and subconscious life is renewed, and becomes as a little child. From this regeneration one passes to the next stage of unfoldment, pictured in Key 20. This is the stage of actual release from three-dimensional limitations. It is the stage of unfoldment in which the ordinary restrictions of time and space do not affect the adept’s action. (Keys 18, 19, 20)

This that I am speaking of is not so far off in the future as you may suppose. It is a false doctrine that puts this realization so far ahead of us. If we have mentality to grasp the principle we have already arrived at the state where a large degree of realization is possible. This message is not sent you as a promise of what you may accomplish in twenty incarnations hence, or in some after-life to which death is the portal. It is a message of hope for the here and now, intended to arouse your expectancy of better conditions for this life. Remember you ARE a fourth-dimensional being. You are not really bound as you seem to be by Space and Time. Your effective range, so to say, is far beyond what most persons suppose. Right now you can and do, heal or hurt at a distance, and your personal activity affects the lives of others who may live thousands of miles away. What these lessons, and all teaching emanating from the Inner School, aim to accomplish is to awaken you to a realization of what you really are. You must know what you are doing, before you can do it intelligently, before you can bring your performance up to the standard of virtuosity we call “adeptship.” Possibly it may seem to you that I set too high a mark. Not so. The world needs healers, needs thinkers who can consciously project constructive imagery into mental space. Many are called, and if few are chosen, it is only because, with all that has been said and written about practical occultism, only a few are really working.

Meditations

FIRST DAY: Keys 12, 16, 20. The movement of universal forces is the basis of all my personal activity. Let me be free from the delusion of separateness. Let me be free from belief that I am bound by Time and Space. DOING NOTHING OF MYSELF, I YET ENTER FREELY INTO ALL ACTIVITY, FOR MY REAL LIFE IS THE UNIVERSAL LIFE.

SECOND DAY: Keys 13, 16, 19. All things are made new for me this day. The errors of the past cannot imprison me. Today, even today, I am a new creature. THE SEED OF THE NEW LIFE SPRINGS WITHIN ME INTO ITS UNFOLDMENT, BREAKING DOWN ALL BARRIERS, AND UNITING ME CONSCIOUSLY TO THE RADIANCE OF MY SHINING SELF.

THIRD DAY: Keys 14, 16, 18. My personal consciousness is being transmuted by my true Self. Its inspiration shatters the delusion which is the only bondage. In my flesh the magic flaming sword turns every way to cut off all that is false. THE ALCHEMY OF THE SPIRIT TRANSMUTES MY BONDAGE INTO FREEDOM AND I PRESS ONWARD TO THE GOAL OF PERFECT REALIZATION.

FOURTH DAY: Keys 15, 16, 17. I rejoice at this day's problems. They are opportunities to break down the walls of ignorance. I watch expectantly for the unveiling of Truth. MY PROBLEM IS MY OPPORTUNITY TO OVERCOME ERROR AND SEE THE BEAUTY THAT REALLY IS.

FIFTH DAY: Keys 12, 13, 14. The more I yield to the One Life, the more it yields itself to me. What I was dies out as what I am becomes ever clearer. I am safely guided through this day. SUPPORTED BY THE ONE GREAT LIFE, THROUGH ALL APPEARANCES OF CHANGE, ALL MY PERSONAL FORCES ARE TRULY ADJUSTED BY THE ONE SELF.

SIXTH DAY: Keys 18, 19, 20. My sub-consciousness is continually at work to build me a finer body. In that body is awakening the new life of the spiritual man that I truly am. I am set free from every limitation. MY BODY IS REGENERATED INTO THE DIVINE LIKENESS WHICH KNOWS NO BONDAGE TO TIME OR SPACE.